Harmony with nature

President Mahinda Rajapaksa could not have made a more timely plea when, addressing a group of Asian leaders he stressed on the importance of restoring Asia’s timeless tradition of harmony with the environment in the face of threats posed by Climate Change - a by product of untrammelled industrial progress and modernisation with nary a care for environmental balance.

Addressing the BOAO Forum in Bejing President Rajapaksa spoke of the looming threat to the region’s natural resources as a result of the disruption caused to nature’s natural cycle and called on the leaders for a collective effort “to restore our good relations with nature”.

He said just like the entrenched problems confronting the present global scenario today such as terrorism, drug trafficking and the smuggling of children a new dimension had emerged which would threaten our very existence.

He was referring to the rapid depletion of the earth’s natural resources in recent years and the destruction of the environment.

“With all the wealth that industrial progress has produced, today we are gravely threatened by Global Warming and Climate Change” he told the regional gathering. He said “in the face of these challenges that mock our most determined attempts to solve them within established frameworks, we must fashion our policies to enable continued development while addressing the challenges posed.”

What the President strove to highlight here is progress and advancement should strike a congenial chord with nature and environment if we are to enjoy the fruits of development.

He went on to dwell on the centuries old Asian wisdom of integrating environmental responsibility into cultural values which taught us to respect and live in harmony with nature which provided rich dividends.

It is hoped that the leaders of the powerful countries which attended the forum would take concrete steps to address the looming threat posed by environmental degradation brought about by economic progress and work out a sustainable plan that would address both facets in a pragmatic way.

A collective effort will certainly be required to deal with this problem on a global scale. Already we see a rapid denuding of the world’s forest cover which has a direct bearing on the phenomenon of Global Warming which has seen melting glaciers and other geological upheavals.

It is prudent that as a people we hark back to the old wisdom of harmonising our lives with nature which as the President said was a unique trait for Asia.

Caring for elders

The decision by the Government to introduce legislation against neglect and maltreatment of elders by their legal custodians is a commendable move that will win the approbation of all segments of society.

According to a weekend English newspaper the Secretary to the Social Services Ministry Ms. V. Jegarajasingham has mooted amendments to the existing Protection of the Rights of Elders Act to offer better security to people above the age of 65.

Stringent penalties such as a fine of Rs.100,000 of a jail term for those found guilty of abuse or neglect of elders too has been mooted but it is doubtful if these will be sufficient deterrents in the absence of a proper enforcing arm for the Social Service Ministry.

Besides no elder in their feeble condition and a dependent in the family will have the strength or the resolve to make an official complaint with the authorities.

Moreover the social stigma attached to such a course of action vis-a-vis the family reputation too would stall them from initiating action. What is therefore required is tackling the issue from a moral perspective thereby getting the offenders to realise their folly of neglecting their aged parents.

We have a World Elders Day marked with all the gilt and panoply with professions of rededicating our souls towards the uplift of this relegated segment of our society. But our elders are still in a far worse predicament than they were before.

It is sad indeed that a country steeped in the pristine teaching of Buddhism which enjoins compassion to one’s elders and the aged where treating one’s elders is a prime national ethos has as much as 10,000 inmates locked up in 167 Elders’ Homes in the country.

As stated in the article the emphasis on the nuclear family concept as against the traditional extended family has led to the neglect and the mistreatment of elders.

Certainly the present day rat race economic circumstances and rapid pace of life have principally contributed to the break down in this once cohesive family unit where elders were integral part of the family institution.

The changing face of the social scenario with the materialistic aspect overtaking conscience and the emergence of new value systems have all made the elders in the family unit considered as intruders in the new scheme of things.

This set up has distanced the offspring from their aged parents who are more often been dumped into “Institutions” to be left in the care of strangers.

It is the affluent who are the more guilty of the lack of care shown to their elders who have turned out to be obstacles to their comfortable family lives and try to salve their conscience by locking up their feeble parents in expensive elders homes and care centres to fend for themselves in the evening of their lives.

How many such parents would have even received a visit from their brood during the just concluded New year is any one’s guess.

Rather than impose jail terms and fines it would be more worthwhile if the Government undertakes a more pro active campaign to drill into society the need for protecting and caring for their elders in keeping with our traditional mores and values instead of discarding them as pieces of chattel, after enduring sacrifice and hardship to raise their offspring, to be forgotten in oblivion in some Elders” Home.